Posts with the tag “devotions”

This week in our physical venues and across our Online Venue, we have been celebrating New Ground Sunday. Here at Everyday Church, we are part of a family of churches called Newfrontiers and within that Newfrontiers family we are part of New Ground. A number of years ago, because of growth and a desire to be more missional, Newfrontiers moved from being one family across the world to a wider family made up of different spheres. At the time we described it as a family moving from one nuclear family to a wider family with children who have themselves become parents. It is more organic than organisational, and over the last decade we have seen huge growth in the number of churches around the world that are part of the wider Newfrontiers family, but with real relational links to one of the smaller spheres.  Read More

There came a moment in history when God fulfilled one of His many promises. The promise had been that His presence would one day move from a temple, accessible by a small number of priestly, anointed individuals, to being poured out upon men and women from all nations and backgrounds. That which filled a holy sanctuary, hidden away from most, would fill and reside in the hearts of everyone who called upon Him. It’s hard to believe that when such an event takes place, an individual just carries on as normal. A transformation begins to take place. When we’re filled with the Holy Spirit, we’re enabled to speak to God differently; and we’re empowered to speak about Him and display His Kingdom differently as well. The Holy Spirit gives us GIFTS that allow that to happen. These gifts are referred to on many occasions throughout the New Testament, but are listed specifically in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 in particular.  Read More

Hopefully, you will remember our Vision & Values series from January and February of this year. We spent six weeks unpacking the statement: “Who we are and why we are here”. We unpacked those eight words, with seven key words: Son – Father – Spirit – Grace – Community – Kingdom – Love We reminded ourselves that our purpose flows out of our identity – we are Kingdom bringers because we are image bearers.   Read More

Death separates us from one another, that is why funerals are so painful as we are forced to face up to that reality. But the Easter truth that I love to proclaim at the funerals is that death can never separate a child of God from the love of God. In 1 Corinthians 15:20-22 Paul goes on to say, “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.” Through his death and resurrection Jesus has broken the strangle hold of death over all who are “in him”.   Read More

The Lord's Prayer is like a diamond with many different facets - Jesus is teaching us to pray this prayer containing so many different forms of prayer; adoration, submission, spiritual warfare, confession, petition - it's all in there. But the form of prayer I want to say a bit more about here, is intercession. Or more concretely the part of intercession where we seek God for him to reveal what his will is so we can work with him. That is what intercession is. We work with God, through our prayers, in seeing his will breaking through in situations and lives here on earth.  Read More

So we come to the end of this Vision and Values series. Reminding ourselves that who we are will always shape what we do. Our purpose as Kingdom bringers flows out of our identity as image bearers. Discipleship leads us to the Kingdom. This week in our sermon we recognised that our vision of following Jesus together as a covenant community is not always matched by our reality. Our individual and corporate imperfections – those bits of us that are not yet quite like Jesus – cause us disappointment and pain.  Read More

About a year after I became a Christian and was baptised I felt God call me to leadership – a call that he has confirmed many times since. That first time back in 1984 the call came through scripture – specifically Isaiah 61 – why don’t you take a moment now to read it through. Three things happened in my heart on that first occasion – what I realise now will have been the first time I would have read those words. Firstly I realised that it was all about the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of the sovereign Lord is upon me. Secondly that I was being called to preach the gospel and thirdly that the gospel was about more than just personal salvation – it was about the Kingdom of God.  Read More

Christians should love the church. Jesus loves his church, community is God’s idea and the church is his plan A for impacting the world with his kingdom. However, the reality is we can often struggle with church. The latest census reveals that in the UK 46% of people would still describe themselves as Christian – that is actually quite encouraging – but less than 5% are part of a church community. Why is that? When God exists in community, creates out of community, creates for community, saves through community and Jesus built community. What is it that causes so many people to identify as Christian, yet not commit to a local church?  Read More

Ephesians 2 verses 1-10 is one of the great levellers of the New Testament. You do not need to be a biblical scholar to understand it – though a bit of study will help you with some of the beautiful nuances. But at first reading it leaves you in no doubt as to its meaning. We were dead in our sin – unresponsive to the majesty of God. Lost in our own selfishness. There was no hope! But God – who is rich in mercy has made us alive in Christ!! The richness and generosity of God is brought to bear against my spiritual poverty. I am transformed by the grace of God. The grace of God secures my salvation and holds my salvation secure – wow.  Read More

Jesus points us to the Father and promises us the Holy Spirit. Jesus also models for us a relationship with the Father and a life lived full of the Holy Spirit. Although Jesus is fully God, he is also fully man, and as such he displays in his life how we can live our lives in relationship with the Father and dependent on the Holy Spirit. Jesus uses the spiritual disciplines of prayer, worship and study to engage with and deepen his relationship with God and his dependency on the Holy Spirit. This is not because he is being religious, but because he knows it is all about relationship.  Read More

This week we have begun a 6 week journey together. A journey in which we will be aiming to remind ourselves of who we are and why we are here! As part of this journey, our Devotions – both our video and written versions – will take on a slightly different format. They will work closely with the sermons being preached in our venues each week. Their aim will be to ground some of the concepts that we are unpacking in the reality of our daily lives. Ephesians 4:11-16 tells us that the leadership gifts that Christ gives to his body the church are given to equip and mature believers. When we preach on a Sunday or Online, this is our aim. To open the scriptures in such a way that those listening, those watching, those taking notes (always a good idea!) are not just kept awake, or entertained, but are equipped.  Read More

Some Christians continue to take Jesus’ instruction literally, including Eastern Orthodox and Mennonite traditions. While I think Jesus’ foot washing example gives us principles rather than rituals, it might still be a useful exercise in Life Group one day. I must admit, though, I find feet quite ugly, especially mine. They tend to take a bit of a battering from daily life. Then there’s athlete’s foot, verrucas, black nails, bunions, and ‘toe jam’! Toe jam is like belly button fluff but more grimy, damp and smelly! Sorry, but perhaps that’s Jesus’ point. I found having my feet washed harder than washing someone else’s. But we must learn to receive acts of service, as it helps us die to self-sufficiency, and we mustn’t deny others the blessing for serving well.  Read More

This week we get back into John’s gospel after our summer break. We remind ourselves that John is writing his gospel to help his first readers, and us, see who Jesus was and is. John structures his gospel around 7 signs and 7 “I am” statements. The purpose of these two groups of 7 is the same. Look at what Jesus did (the signs) and listen to what Jesus said about himself (The “I am’s”) and make a decision about the man that they reveal. Our passage this week is reflecting the response of a particular group of people to the seventh of the signs – the raising of Lazarus.  Read More

Vision is vital. We live in a changing world. Some of that change is God ordained. Seasons in the natural world, stages of life, day and night. These are all part of the rhythm that God placed in the world for our good and wellbeing. However, we are also surrounded by unstructured change. From pandemics to drought, from the war in Ukraine to economic challenges. These seemingly random changes can cause us to drop our heads and just try and get through the day. It is vision that lifts our heads. It is God’s vision that reminds us that we are created for greater things, for eternal things, for Kingdom exploits.  Read More

Today we’re going to focus in on Jesus’ interaction with two sisters. Jesus is returning to Bethany to see Lazarus, who he has been told is sick. On his approach he is met by Martha and Mary. By this stage Lazarus has died, and they happen to approach him one at a time. You can read this story of Jesus comforting Martha and Mary in v17-37. Remember, these two sisters are grieving the same person at the same time. They both even say the same thing to Jesus as they approach him. Martha in v21, Mary in v32, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” This is a statement of grief, hurt and faith. Can you feel it? Do you recognise it? Have you ever prayed a prayer like this? “Lord, if only…”  Read More

If you have noticed anything over the last few weeks you will have noticed the numerous references to sheep. Sheep and Shepherds are a key motif and illustration throughout scripture. Israel was a nation of shepherds. Shepherding and pastoral care – literally looking after your flock – were hard wired into the minds of the people that Jesus was speaking to. Yes he was a carpenter and his disciples were a mix of fishermen, tax collectors and revolutionaries (zealots), but their common history was shepherding. Sheep, lambs, goats, were all vital for the nation’s economy and for the nations worship. It is almost as if God created sheep to teach us about leadership and our relationship with God!  Read More

Jesus chooses to call himself the true shepherd, and that sums up so much: a close and personal relationship between himself and his followers, the certain security that we can have in him, the dependency in his guidance, his companion, his profound care for us and most of all his sacrificial love.  Read More

This week our passage revolves around a healing miracle. One of the seven signs in John’s gospel that is meant to cause us to stop and look at Jesus and ask the question, “who is this man?” It is also a passage that gives us opportunity to ask some questions about healing itself. Later in the gospel (John 14) Jesus will say to his first disciples, and to us, that we will see even greater miracles than were seen in his own ministry. What then does this passage tell us about healing? It does not give us a full theology of healing, that was not John’s intention, but it does raise the subject for us, it should provoke us.  Read More

In this devotional we are going to look at just a few verses and one particular aspect of Jesus’ teaching, the devil! In our passage Jesus makes reference to the devil in his challenge to religious leaders who have allowed there dependence on religious tradition to become a stronghold of deception in their lives. He is exposing the fact that when we are deceived to the point of missing the truth about God, it is the father of lies (the devil) who is ultimately behind that deception.  Read More

These are the wonderful words spoken by Jesus, to a woman who moments earlier had stood in abject humiliation and terror, awaiting judgement and probably brutal execution for the charge of adultery that had been brought against her. I encourage you to read the story for yourself – John 8: 1-11. It contains the classic line that has made its way into our popular vocabulary, “let he who is without sin cast the first stone” (John 8:7).  Read More

Jesus makes this incredible invitation to us. We can come and drink from him and rivers of living water will flow from within us. John helpfully clarifies this. He notes that this is the Holy Spirit given to those who believe in him. An amazing invitation which points to a life of satisfaction and eternal significance.  Read More

I count myself incredibly blessed by the church community into which I was saved. I became a Christian just before my 15th birthday (27th February 1983) at a Baptist Church in Bedford. It was a community of faith that was itself rediscovering some of the fullness of the Holy Spirit. This meant that I got saved and worked out the early years of my Christian life in a community that was digging into all that the Bible said about the Holy Spirit.  Read More

In our text today we simply see Jesus in conversation with people, and we've got so much to learn from him through the answers he gives to the different questions he is faced with. I'll be focusing this devotion around only one verse, verse 8b, so I will encourage you to spend some time on your own later, letting Jesus speak to you through the rest of these conversations too.  Read More

When Jesus describes Himself as the Bread of Life, he’s making two very clear connections. The first is that the feeding of the 5,000 is not just about the miraculous act, but about the one who performs it. Remember, in this sermon series we’ve been really pressing into the idea that miracles are signs that don’t point to themselves but are meant to point us to Jesus. The Jews got caught up in the idea that Jesus provided food for them once, and therefore He could be relied on to keep giving them food on demand. While we do experience (and should expect) miraculous provision from God, we must never forget that signs and wonders should always lead us directly to Jesus Himself. Jesus does not allow us to make Him a foodbank or jukebox, but as a God to be worshiped.  Read More

There are parts of scripture which have worked their way into our very culture, not just as Christians, but also as a culture. The feeding of the 5,000 is one of those narratives. Maybe it is the drama of it that makes it so relatable. Maybe it is because if touches on one of our most basic needs – food! It is one of the only narratives that appears in all four of the gospels (Why not have a look at the other versions found in Matthew 14, Mark 6 and Luke 9). In the sermon this week we focused on the miracle itself – this was a real event, it really happened and it is amazing. As with all miracles in John it reveals to us the character of Christ – he is fully God, and God is the God of creation and provision.  Read More

This week we’ve been looking at John 5:16 onwards. We find in these verses Jesus’ response to being challenged, persecuted, criticised for healing a man on the Sabbath. The Jewish leaders of Jesus’ day didn’t like what Jesus had done but also hated the fact Jesus was claiming His equality with God. They wanted to get rid of Him.  Read More

After a few weeks out of sequence we’re now back in John 4. So far John has shown us how The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We’ve seen John the Baptist point to Jesus and the calling of the first disciples. Jesus turned water in to wine and cleared the Temple. He’s taught Nicodemus and John the Baptist testified about Jesus, again. Then Jesus met the woman at the well in Samaria and a whole town encountered Jesus. Our stories today pick up where we left off in John 4.  Read More

I felt called to leadership when I was 16 years old. I had become a Christian in a Baptist church in Bedford in 1983 and got thoroughly plugged in to an amazing youth group. We would gather to pray on a Friday night, intending to pray for an hour and ending up praying until the early hours of the morning. It was an incredible time of blessing and many of us have gone on to lead within the church. We would also gather for larger worship events with visiting worship bands – often from other parts of the world. It was at one such event that God spoke to me so clearly from Isaiah 61.  Read More

This year we’re working our way through John’s Gospel. And this Easter we’re jumping ahead to look at the how John tells the story of that first Easter week. This week we’re in John 12; next week we’ll explore John 20 and Jesus’ resurrection. There are two stories in this week’s passage. v1-11, tell the story of Jesus being anointed by Mary at Bethany. v12-19, of Jesus’ triumphal entry in to Jerusalem. For this week’s devotion we’ll focus on the first of these two. As we start, it is worth noting that this story is part 2 of 2. It follows on from the events of John 11 where Lazarus is raised from the dead. It’s a tremendous event, and here in John 12 they’re throwing a party to celebrate!   Read More

There’s an undeniable cause and effect taking place here. Last week, we looked at the beginning of John chapter 4. We were introduced to a lady, who by all accounts had made some poor choices in life. She’d given herself to a string of unhealthy relationships and now found herself on the side-lines within her community. Shame and isolation went before and behind her. Until she meets with the only man who could ever truly see her, know where she’s been and know how to restore her: Jesus. Running back to her people, they obviously see and hear the impact of this encounter and want to savour some of it for themselves too. The second half of John 4 shows us what the domino-effect of the Gospel can result in: one person receiving leads to many people receiving.  Read More

In this week’s message we unpack a beautiful story where Jesus engages with a woman who is not just from an outcast tribe (the Samaritans), but who herself is an outcast within her on community. Because of her life choices she resorts to fetching water when no-one else is around, and yet Jesus intentionally times his journey so that He can speak to her, and show her a glimpse of who He really is. Read the verses slowly and re-acquaint yourself with the remarkable dialogue of the story.  Read More

In this week’s message we got to focus on John the Baptist, who is Jesus’ cousin. John spends time telling us about Jesus, the real Jesus of the Bible so we can see him in his true form. We take a closer look at what he was doing with his disciples and why it has significance for us today. In the verses, we first look at the exchange between one of John’s disciples and a Jew. This exchange reveals to us that Baptism is a key step in our walk with Jesus. Baptism is done out of obedience as Jesus was baptised himself and call us to do the same. The act of baptism is dripping with symbolism and remains an important step for all believers to take.  Read More

The passage we’re exploring this week through our service, Life Group Guide and devotions is John 3:1-21. It’s the first time we meet to Nicodemus in John’s Gospel. He’ll turn up a couple more times before the end, but this is his most famous moment. While there is so much that could be said about this passage, I want to focus us on to the most well known verse in this section, John 3:16. Let’s savour it together, a bite-sized chunk at a time.  Read More

We might come with a tiny bit of expectation, but we come to an amazing God who understands every part of our lives and meets us in the dirt. He meets us where we are.  Read More

Listen to these mind blowing words from 1 Corinthians 6.19-20: 19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your bodies.  Read More

Well in my message I focused on John 2:1-11, which is Jesus’ first recorded miracle, the wedding in Cana where he turned water into wine. It’s such an iconic episode in the life of Jesus, and even through it’s only 11 verses, you could easily study just this one miracle for weeks on its own, such is the richness of the symbolism and so multi-layered is the story.  Read More

I was slightly frustrated when I came to this passage. John’s gospel includes some incredible moments in Jesus life, but on first look this appears a bit of a filler passage. But then I read it again, and again, and again. In effect, I meditated on the passage. Through that repetition I found real joy and inspiration. I caught sight of the texture of these verses as they described real people having real encounters. John the Baptist willingly releasing followers (disciples) to follow Jesus. Yet another example of John the Baptist’s humility and prophetic calling. Five different men deciding to follow Jesus. Friends inviting friends, brother inviting brother. John the gospel writer refusing to name himself in the narrative as he stays true to his vision for his gospel – to point people to Jesus.  Read More

We seem to be in the middle of a pandemic of apologies. Barely a day goes by without a new demand for an expression of remorse from someone in power for their failings. The trouble is that many of our leaders seem to have perfected the art of “apologising” without acknowledging that they have actually done anything wrong; “It wasn’t that serious…, I misunderstood…, I wasn’t told it was wrong…., I was misled…”. It may be more honest if they had confessed; “I was arrogant..., I was deceitful…, I was greedy…”. But we all prefer to present our most shameful actions as understandable mistakes rather than acknowledge them for what they are. The Bible speaks of such things plainly; it calls them “sin”. It makes it clear that they are the root cause of our fractured relationships with the Holy God who created us and the darkness that engulfs the world as a result.  Read More

John’s Prologue serves as an introduction in the same way a movie trailer prepares us for a film. Here John is introducing us to a whole bunch of material that he’ll unpack for us through his eyewitness account of Jesus’ life that follows. At the end of these verses we’re left with a tonne of questions, and that’s just the way he wants it. John is inviting us to follow him into the rest of his Gospel. He wants to invite you to explore the claims of Jesus. We’re going to have great fun doing just that in the weeks and months to come. There is so much compressed into these verses. But I’d like us to consider just half a verse together today. It’s the start of John 1:14. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.  Read More

Recently I went to the cinema to watch the latest Spider-Man movie. Don’t worry, I’m not going to drop in any spoilers! It was a really good movie and once again Spider-Man proved strong enough to save the day and overcome the bad-guys. In almost every scene we could see his super-human abilities. His incredible powers that no ordinary person possesses. Despite his desire to be seen as an average teenager, Peter Parker is not an average teenager. He is a super-hero. Sometimes we unhelpfully make super-heroes out the men and women we see in the Bible. We picture them as some kind of next level Christian with super-Christian abilities, their Holy Spirit senses tingling at every turn, always able to overcome and always having pure heroic motives. However, as we begin our journey through the Gospel of John, it’s important to understand who it is that’s giving us this account of Jesus’ life. John, the disciple of Jesus, who wrote this gospel didn’t have a very impressive list of credentials…  Read More